Reflecting
by rumpleteazerr
Summary: Dean wakes up in a strange yet familiar place. He soon learns who put him there and why they did. But will he ever be able to leave?
1. Waking Up

**Disclaimer: **I, of course, do not own Supernatural or any of it's charcters and storylines.

**Note: **This is my first fanfic so I apoligise if it's not THAT great. Story occurs after the season 4 episode, "The Monster at the End of the Book."

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**Reflecting**

**Chapter One: Waking Up**

Dean gasped. His eyes shot open and he found himself staring at a starry sky.

"What the…"

He slowly got up off the cold hard ground. He had no idea where he was. Suddenly, a loud noise and a bright light were in front of him. He dodged it, only to watch a car drive past. He hadn't noticed it before, but he had been lying in the middle of a road. He looked around and saw old brick buildings and manicured green lawns. The place looked vaguely familiar, but he just couldn't work out where it was. Still a little groggy, he started to walk down the mysterious road in the hope that he would find someone he knew.

10 minutes later and it was still the same as before. There were more buildings and it seemed like no one was around. Dean was frustrated. He didn't know where he was, how he had got there and where Sam was. He had had enough of walking aimlessly searching for his brother. He walked up the grey pathway to one of the brick buildings. He was about to knock on the door when he saw the little pumpkin sitting on the doorstep. It was Halloween. '_But that's impossible' _thought Dean. Only a few months before had he and Sam fought Samhain on Halloween. Maybe the pumpkin wasn't for Halloween. A car drove past and Dean could hear the blaring hip hop music coming from it. Someone threw an empty beer can at a window and smashed it. The door opened in front of Dean to reveal a short 20-something year old guy with thick black glasses and bright red hair. He looked around cautiously.

"Uh…hi. I'm Dean."

"Look. I don't have any candy. I just washed the egg out of my hair. Why can't you guys just leave me alone?" shouted the red head. The door was slammed in Dean's face.

He lifted his fist up to the door to knock but no sound came out. It was like he was hitting air. He tried and tried again but nothing. No sound. He didn't even feel the force as he hit the door. Dean looked around. He moved back a few steps then launched himself at the door, in the hope to break it down. But instead he went straight through it and tumbled to the floor.

"What the hell?"

The red head suddenly walked right passed the pile on the floor that was Dean and opened the door, carrying a plastic bag of rubbish in his hand. He was mumbling to himself.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. What do they think this is? High school or something?"

Dean quickly got up and went swiftly out the door. A million things were rushing through his mind. Was he dead? Was this just like what happened a few years ago with the car accident? He saw a group of people walking down a path so he followed them, hoping to lead him to some answers.

Dean followed them into a crowded bar that was covered in Halloween decorations. Music was playing and people where talking. It was full of people dressed up in costumes. As he wandered around, he noticed that there was one person who wasn't dressed up. He was with a black guy and a blonde girl who was dressed up as a nurse.

"Sam?"

He stared bewildered at the sight of his brother. This was a younger Sam. His hair was shorter, his face looked younger. He looked happy. Dean looked over at the blonde girl.

"Jess?"

He didn't know how this was possible. He couldn't have gone back in time. But then he remembered that time not too long ago when Castiel had sent him back to the 70s. He saw Sam and Jessica kiss and he felt this knot in his stomach. Was he supposed to stop everything from happening?

As Sam left the bar, Dean did too. He started to follow him and Jess when someone caught his eye across the street. Castiel was standing in the middle of the path opposite him. Dean looked at Sam then looked at the angel. He knew Sam would be headed back to his apartment so he decided to go over to Castiel to get some answers. Sam could wait. He needed to know what was happening.

"Dean." Said Castiel in his usual tone.

"Cass, what the hell is happening?"

"Only what must happen."

"What? Don't start this God poetry riddle crap, okay? Why did you bring me back in time again?"

"We didn't."

"Well then who did?"

Castiel sighed. "No one brought you back in time, Dean. You aren't living the past."

"Wait, what?"

"You are in a fake reality."

"A fake what?"

"Think of it as revisiting an old memory, only in extreme vivid detail."

Dean looked confused for a moment while he tried to get his head around what he had just heard.

"So this is just…a memory? But it can't be. I've never been inside that bar before."

"The reality we are in right now is not limited to what you know and have seen."

"Why am I here Cass?"

"You are here so you are away from danger."

"Oh come on, I'm not freaking five years old!"

"There is an evil power at work that wants to destroy you."

"What's new? What is it? A demon? It can't be that bad."

"No one knows what it is. All we know is that it wants you dead. And we can't afford to lose you."

"We as in the angels? And God?"

Castiel stared at Dean blankly.

"If you die then the apocalypse can not be halted. This is the best thing for your protection."

"Right…for my protection. Well, until now, I'd say you guys are doing a pretty crappy job at keeping me alive."

"This is the first time that it is certain you are in extreme mortal danger. The thing after you is ruthless. It won't stop to chat or to reveal itself to you. It will kill you before you have any time to react."

"It wouldn't be able to find me if I get a few hex bags and set up a few devils traps."

"Dean, it isn't a demon."

"Then what the hell is it?"

Castiel paused and looked up at the sky. He sighed.

"We don't know. No one knows. It is an unheard of evil. All we know is that it is super fast and an excellent tracker. No hex bag will stop it. It isn't a demon so devils traps won't work either."

"Then what is it? Surely you have some idea!"

"We don't even know what side it is on. Heaven or hell, this thing can't be stopped."

"So why am I here? What is going to stop it from finding me here?"

"The reality you are in was created by angels. And therefore only those whom the angels permit can enter."

"What about Sam? If this thing is after me, won't it be looking for Sam too?"

"Sam is untraceable. It won't be able to find him."

"And why not?"

"He contains demon blood. This thing cannot search out anything supernatural. Angel, demon or anything in between cannot be found by it."

"But Sam isn't a demon. And he only got demon blood when he was a baby!"

"Maybe that was enough."

"What I'm I supposed to do here Cass? Just sit and watch my life on freaking replay? I mean I can't interact with anything…"

"That's not entirely true."

"What?"

"You could interact if you wanted to. If you truly wanted to. You shouldn't but it isn't impossible. It would be painful to even attempt to do anything. Not to mention the consequences. Anything you interact with will change the future in this reality."

"Then why does it matter? If this reality changes… what difference does it make?"

"No one is sure if this reality is tied to the real world. That connection has never been tested. So I wouldn't do anything."

"Then what am I supposed to do!"

Dean was getting frustrated. He didn't want to be stuck here, away from the real world and away from Sam. He looked at Castiel and waited for an answer. Finally, he spoke.

"Reflect."

Then, he was gone.

**To be continued...**


	2. You're Never Alone

_Previously: Dean wakes up in Standford University. It's 2005 and no one can see or hear him. Castiel appears and Dean learns that something is after him, so the angels have put him here to keep him safe. He has been put in a memory-like reality where he has nothing to do but to watch over the events of his life._

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***For disclaimer and info see Chapter One***

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The words replayed over and over in Dean's head.

"_Then what am I supposed to do?"_

"_Reflect."_

Reflect? Was he supposed to just watch his life on replay? His tragic, haunted life? Dean was pacing along the sidewalk. Castiel, of course, had vanished. Dean was alone now. And there was nothing he could do.

Well he wasn't exactly alone. He still had Sam…technically. But still, he would have to watch everything happen all over again. Everything from all those lives they just couldn't save to all the deaths that surrounded him. Jess's death…John's death…Sam's death… And maybe even his own. He just couldn't do it…

And then Dean saw it. His baby was rolling down the street, AC/DC blaring from the speakers. His beautiful black 1967 Chevrolet Impala was cruising down the road at a reasonable pace, enough for Dean to see himself inside.

"Well look at that handsome son of a gun." He said out loud, still staring at himself. He looked like a younger, more carefree Dean. But that was his old self, he thought, and he wasn't the same person anymore. He didn't have to try and keep up with the car, it was only going half a mile an hour. He saw himself, singing along to Back in Black, and tapping the drum beat on the steering wheel. Dean smirked. If only he could just tell himself not to go ask Sam for help, then maybe Jess would be alive, and Sam would have been the typical college boy while Dean and John stayed out of his life. But as much as he hated himself for thinking it, he was happy that he got Sam back in his life, even if it took the death of Sam's girlfriend to make that happen.

Dean followed the car until it parked in an empty lot near Sam's building. Dean watched himself sit in the car, just staring through the front window. He say himself rub his hands over his face in frustration.

"Come on Dean! Just ask him for his help. It's for dad. He'll understand."

Dean suddenly remembered this moment. He was nervous about seeing Sam. He hadn't talked to him or seen him for a long time and didn't even know if he would even want to bother hearing what Dean had to say. He had the guts to drive here, but that didn't mean he wanted to get out of the car. He watched himself sit there for a few more minutes, until, finally, Dean saw himself get out of the car.

Getting into Sam's apartment wasn't hard because the window was left open. But finding where Sam was, without making any noise or turning on any lights, was. Dean watched as he saw himself walk around aimlessly into rooms then out of rooms. He tried not to make noise but that was virtually impossible due to the fact that he had no idea where anything was. He saw himself walk into an open room, only to see Sam start to attack him. He put up a pretty good fight, and managed to pin Sam to the ground, but only to have his little brother do the same to him. Eventually, Jess turned the lights on and Dean finally got to see Sam and himself in good light.

They were both younger. Sam's hair was shorter, and Dean's was wilder, almost like he had been experimenting with hair gel. There were fewer scars and cuts and bruises. Sam even looked a little shorter, though not as short as Dean. His little brother still looked like the Sasquatch compared to him. Dean looked over to Jess. She looked exactly how he remembered her- messy, long blonde hair and a skimpy Smurfs top and shorts. As she began talking, Dean saw himself checking her out. He smirked and tried to concentrate on the conversation that was going on, but he couldn't. He was too overwhelmed by the sight of his little brother and his younger self. And before he knew it, he and Sam were back at his car, still arguing over John and their childhood. Reluctantly, Sam agreed to come on the hunting trip with his brother, and Dean waited with himself while Sam went to get his things.

Dean leant against the Impala. It was cold and he should have been able to see his warm breath in the air, but he was invisible to everyone else, so his breath must have been too. He could hear his younger self let out a sigh of relief from within the car.

"Well that went well."

He had never realised how nervous and hard that moment was for himself. He was happy that Sam was going with him, but he was nervous because he hadn't been with his brother for so long. He was afraid that too much of John had rubbed off on him. Younger Dean fiddled with his box of cassette tapes, until finally deciding on just playing the radio. He chose a general hits station. He wasn't sure on what type of music Sam was in to, but as long as it wasn't bubblegum pop he could stand it, at least for a while. Dean wasn't sure on what to do. He would have to get in the car somehow to follow himself and Sam, but he wasn't sure on how to. He had crashed through that nerd red head kid's door before but he wasn't sure if he could do that again. But then how would he follow them to Jericho? He couldn't drive a car and even if he did manage to get in the Impala, how would he get out? He sighed. What was he going to do?

Dean was just standing there, waiting for Sam to return, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. His hunter instincts told him that something was wrong. He looked into the car. He saw himself tapping along to 'Bad Medicine' by Bon Jovi. He looked around. Sam was nowhere to be seen. Then he saw it again. This time, he was sure that it was a person. He walked over to the stairwell where he had seen it. He walked under the cover and searched around. Nothing. He sighed. Of course it was nothing. And even if it was, why should he care? Nothing was going to see him. So he turned around to head back to the car. He was within a few meters of it when he heard footsteps. It sounded like the clacking of high heels, so no way was it Sam. He spun around and then he saw her, and he knew at once, that she shouldn't have been there and that's she could see him.

She looked about 21 years old was tall for a girl her age. She was almost the same height as Dean. She had long dark chestnut hair that fell in loose thick waves down her shoulders and back. She had large dark blue eyes that were framed by her thick black eyelashes. Her facial features reminded Dean of a pretty Italian girl he had once had a fling with. She had a large curved nose, but not too big that it made her look funny. Her lips were curved up slightly at the edges and were perfectly full and pouted. Her arms were crossed against her chest and they covered her loose dark blue top. She wore black skinny jeans and bright red heels. She also wore a cropped leather jacket, that was as black as they night sky. She stared at Dean and smiled.

"Do you have to stare?" she said. Dean shook his head as he came back into reality. He hadn't realised that he had been staring at her.

"You…you can see me?" he asked.

"Well, duh."

"Who are you?" he asked the mystery girl.

"Hannah Patridge." She said bluntly. That didn't answer Dean's question.

"I mean, why are you here? How can you see me?"

She sighed and walked closer to Dean. "To tell you the truth, I have no idea. All I can remember is running into this red head girl and then she told me she had to protect me. And then I woke up here."

Dean immediately knew who it was who sent her here.

"Anna…" he said slowly.

"No…my name is Hannah." She said.

"Yeah I know that. Anna, she is the one who sent you here." Dean began pacing. If this girl was here, that would mean that the thing that was after him must be after her too.

"What else did Anna say?"

"The red head? Not much. Just that she had to protect me and it was of vital importance that I stay safe. Her exact words, in fact." Hannah was staring at Dean, who was too busy thinking to notice. She bit her lip and looked him up and down. He was so hot.

"Do you have to stare?" he said. Hannah snapped her head up and blushed.

"Sorry…so, umm, what's your name?"

"Dean. Dean Winchester" he answered.

"So, do you know why I'm here?" she asked.

Dean looked her in the eye. "Yeah. Yeah I do."

Her eyes widened. "So? Are you going to tell me?"

Dean sighed. "You better sit down."

"Why?" asked Hannah.

"Because what I'm about to tell you is confusing as hell."


	3. My Friend, The Angel

_Previously: An unknown powerful creature is after Dean. So Castiel has trapped Dean for safety reasons in an alternate reality where he is forced to relive everything from his past, starting with his reunion with Sam and Stanford in 2005. He runs into a mysterious girl named Hannah, who got trapped, just like Dean, by a certain red head of an angel…_

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***For disclaimer and other info, please see Chapter One. ***

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Hannah sat on the stairwell while Dean paced backwards and forwards, telling her the whole 'Truth Is Out There' speech.

"Oh! And angels are real too." He said finally as he stopped pacing.

"Angels?"

"Yeah, but they aren't your rosy cheeked naked cherubs shooting love darts into people's ass."

"Lovely visual." She said as she got up and walked away from Dean.

"Where are you going?" he called after her.

Hannah sighed and turned around to face Dean. "I'm going to try to get out of here."

"You know, for someone who just found out that monsters are real…you are pretty damn calm about it."

"Who said that I just found out?" she said as she raised her eyebrows.

"Wait, what?" said Dean, looking confused.

"I knew all of that. Duh. Except for the part about the angels…but I always kind of expected there to be another side…" she said as she plucked a stray hair out of her eyes.

"So, what are you?" Dean asked.

"I'm a human…the same as you…I hope." Hannah said slowly, as if Dean had asked her the most obvious question in the entire world.

"No, I mean are you a hunter?"

"Oh! No, I'm not." Hannah said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"What then? How do you know everything?"

"I have…connections let's say." She said mysteriously.

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

"That's not for your concern." She said bluntly.

Dean looked at her, frustrated. And then he spotted that his Impala was gone. He stared at the spot where it was a few minutes ago.

"Didn't you notice? That car left about 10 minutes ago. I think it drove off during your whole 'evil clowns that eat people' speech."

"Great. Just great!" said Dean as he threw his hands in the air in annoyance. How was he supposed to follow Sam now? Let alone get to Jericho.

"Let me guess…that was your ride?" asked Hannah.

"Like it matters now."

"You do realize what you can do, haven't you?" she asked as she playfully raised an eyebrow at him.

"Should I have?" Dean asked, confused.

Hannah just laughed. "You can do what ever you want here! It doesn't matter if you missed that car because you can just go hijack a bus or something. No one can see you. No one knows you're there. You're the invisible man and you can do whatever you want to anyone or anything."

Dean smirked. "You know, that's kind of dirty…"

Hannah helped Dean find the nearest bus station. He found the bus headed for Jericho and waited for it to arrive. It would be a few more hours. It was very late at night, or very early morning. It was too hard to tell. Dean slumped down in an empty chair. Hannah stood in front of him. She crossed her arms.

"What?" asked Dean.

"Aren't you going to ask me to come along with you?" she said as she began to tap her toe on the ground.

"I thought you didn't want to."

"I never said that!"

"Well you didn't seem interested in where I was going or why."

"Well I am now." She said as she sat down in the chair across from Dean.

"You seriously want to know?" he asked.

"Well you're the only one who can hear me and I'm the only one who can hear you. I might as well listen." She said. "So…what's in Jericho?"

Dean sighed. "Me. I'm in Jericho."

"That makes no sense…"

"Okay…we are like, back to the future here. I'm stuck reliving my past from this point on until Cas decides to let me out of here. So I'm following myself. God that sounds weird…"

"Who's Cas?" asked Hannah with a confused look on her face. "Is that your girlfriend or something?

Dean startled. "Not Cas as in Cassandra. Cas as in Castiel."

"Oh...so who is Castiel then? Strange name…"

"Castiel is…an angel." Dean said slowly, just realizing how strange that sentence actually sounded.

"Like…literally an angel? As in god's angel? Or as in 'Castiel is so sweet and lovely. Oh! He is SUCH an angel!'" Hannah said in a high pitched voice as she threw her hands around, laughing.

"As in god's angels." Dean said seriously.

"Oh…and you are on nickname terms then?" Hannah said smiling.

Dean just gave her this look. It made her think that there was more to this story.

"Why are you friends with an angel?" she asked.

"That is a long story." Said Dean, shaking his head.

"We have a few hours until the bus gets here. I'm sure I can keep up."

Dean exhaled sharply and looked up at Hannah. Her dark blue looked back at him. Should he trust this girl?

"My little brother Sammy…" Dean began. "He died."

Hannah's face fell. "I'm so sorry Dean."

"He died and I held him as he died. Some guy stabbed him pretty good, there was blood everywhere…" Dean felt him self tearing up. He couldn't believe it. He had to get on with it. Skip the details. Don't cry! "Then I made a deal."

"A deal?"

"As in crossroad demons?"

"Oh… I've hear about them once or twice. Nasty things."

"Anyway, so I got Sam back…but I only had one year to live. And Sam tried _so_ hard to fix it and save me. But he couldn't. I knew he couldn't. So I got ripped apart and sent to hell."

Hannah's eyes widened. "Hell?" she gasped.

"It felt like 30 years down there in the pit… the worst pain imaginable…only 50 times worse. And then, I woke up six feet under. Dug my way out. I got this lovely souvenir." He took off his jacket and pulled down his shirt to show the hand indentation on his shoulder. Hannah continued to stare in intrigue and horror. "Turns out the angels saved me. Cas dragged me out of the pit. And turns out the only reason why they did it was because I started the oncoming apocalypse. And only I can stop it."

Hannah took a moment to register what Dean had just said. "An…apocalypse? Like as in-"

"Biblical. Yeah."

"Wow." She said.

"I know."

They sat in silence for a while. And then finally Hannah spoke.

"So why are we here?" she asked.

"I don't know about you but something is after me. Don't know what. No one knows. So Castiel dropped me in here so I don't get ripped to shreds." Said Dean.

"What about me then? You said you knew that red headed girl that put me here! Who is she?"

"Anna. Another angel."

"She was an angel?"

"A fallen angel. I think. She fell but we helped her get her grace back, Sam and me. I thought the other angels were looking for her so I have no idea why she put you here."

"Okay." Said Hannah in confusion. The poor girl, Dean thought. "When are we getting out?" she asked hopefully with pleading eyes.

"To tell the truth? I have no idea." Said Dean.

Hannah paced around the empty room a few times before slumping down in a chair. Her and Dean sat and waited until morning for the Jericho bus. Then they would decide on what to do next…and if they would ever get out of here.


End file.
